Midseason Scouting Report: A Deep Dive Into CB Tariq Woolen

It’s a given that every new season a handful of late-round picks or undrafted free agents will surprisingly become impactful players. While there are a lot of them this season, the one who’s impressed me the most is Seattle’s CB Tariq Woolen. He was on my radar of possible players to fully evaluate during the last draft but he didn’t show enough as a prospect to warrant making the list of 100 players. What made him stand out was his staggering 40-time paired with his size. He ran a 4.26 and while it doesn’t quite appear that way on film, he’s still fast enough to run with almost any receiver. His film in college was reportedly very poor, which explains the late draft status, but since entering the league, he’s obviously grown significantly. So far, in his rookie campaign, he’s demonstrated better quickness and footwork, while also showing a good understanding and feel for zone coverage. With four picks in just seven games, some are calling his name for the Offensive Rookie of The Year award. While he should certainly be considered, the way Sauce Gardner is playing really makes it hard as Sauce is having a truly special season. The ball skills he’s flashed have gotten many casual fans intrigued, and with his physical upside, he could very well be a big name soon. All of his strengths and weaknesses will be covered here as well as two full all-22 film breakdowns.

Film Analysis

Week 4: @ DET

• On his first defensive drive, Detroit is at Seattle’s 32, and Seattle dials up a cover-three blitz. The first thing noticed was Woolen gets called for a hold on Josh Reynolds, but the play resulted in a touchdown to T.J. Hockenson. In this play, Reynolds runs a streak from the left side, and Hockenson runs a deep corner to the left which both fall into the zone Woolen is responsible for. Because the middle-field safety had no other routes coming his way, Woolen should’ve transferred his responsibility to Reynolds off to the safety and covered the corner route instead. Because of the lack of experience, he fell for it and covered Reynolds the whole way while leaving Hockenson wide open.
• In his second drive, he gets called for another holding.
• There are multiple times in the first half when Woolen gives up two-three yards of separation on in-breaking routes but doesn’t get targeted.
• To start the second half, Wooley gets a pick-six covering Hockenson on a deep in. He’s in man coverage and gives up a yard or two of separation on the break, but as the ball was thrown, his elite top-end speed went on display as he made up all of the ground he lost and perfectly timed the pick.
• Has two good reps later in the second half when he’s in man and doesn’t get targeted.
• When covering Reynolds from the slot in man coverage, the receiver runs a wheel route, and Woolen stays in front of him but lets Reynolds get in position to make the catch, and he fails to make the tackle.
• Was taken off the field in goal-line situations.
• Seattle gave up an 81-yard passing play to Hockenson on a short cross which appeared to be due to a miscommunication on one of the shallow defenders – they were playing a cover three match.
• When playing man coverage against Reynolds, he gets beat on a short in-breaking route. He had good closing speed to attempt the breakup and get the receiver down, however.
• In the 4th quarter, Seattle plays cover 2 and Woolen makes a great decision by staying with Raymond the whole way who ran basically a streak with a stutter move. He was responsible for the QB’s left-side soft zone and recognized there were no shallow routes coming his way and stood with Raymond. While he gave up a bit of separation, he had safety help so overall this was a plus play.
• In the fourth quarter, he gets called for illegal use of hands when in the red zone. It wasn’t obvious but is still something he needs to improve.
• Late in the fourth, Woolen makes an error by covering the inside stick route rather than covering the out route on the goal line and gives up a touchdown. This happened when they were up two scores so this play doesn’t carry much weight.

Week 6: VS AZ

• His technique in press coverage has noticeably improved in just a two-week period. He has started to use his frame and length to box the receiver into a limited amount of space.
• Early on he gives up a short pass, which appeared to be a miscommunication.
• In the second quarter, Seattle is playing cover 2 and gives up a 24-yard gain on Wooley’s side of the field. He was playing a shallow soft zone and he had to stay soft in order to cover the RB in the flats. This was not a good, nor a bad play from Wooley.
• In the third, Woolen gets a fumble recovery, but what was most impressive was the coverage he had on Marquise Brown, which forced Murray to scramble.
• Close the end of the game on a fourth down, Wooley gets an interception on Brown running a go route. He flashed the speed and mirroring ability to stay side-by-side with him, and then used his insane vertical ability to get the pick.
• Overall this game, he was much better at staying disciplined in the zone and played with better technique in both press-man and off-coverage. Besides a few plays, he gave up very little separation and that was mostly against Marquise Brown.

Final conclusion

Overall, I wasn’t disappointed but nor was I overwhelmed by his performance as a rookie. For his size, he should really continue to become more physical at the line as most of his press plays he looks rather soft. His ability to recognize routes and his understanding of leverage has been greatly improved, and he continues to show subtle improvements each week. After watching every snap of those two games and analyzing all of his picks, I can confidently say he is an ascending stud corner, but it’s not clear if he’ll ever be a true star player. At worst, he’s a capable number-two corner that can start, and at best he’ll be a borderline elite corner in the right scheme.

Grades

Traits/ Skills (see bottom of the page for scale)

All potential first-round prospects are graded and analyzed through ‘film’ of at least three games dedicated to each player. In addition, an array of various stats and analytics are also factored in. Each trait/attribute is graded 1-7.

Player’s Pros and Cons

Tariq Woolen Bio

• Woolen’s skillset is ideal for a press-man system but he also has the ability to play in an off-man system – Seattle’s scheme which is now more balanced is a good scheme for him
• Has outstanding makeup speed and absurd length which gives him the upside to match up against elite NFL deep threats
• With more development in his technique, there’s potential for him to be a good option to cover speedy TEs
• With more experience and better confidence, there’s no reason he can’t eventually have world-class ball skills – they’re already a plus trait of his
• He’s flashed the ability to close on routes quickly but just needs to be more consistent
• Had underwhelming physicality in press coverage, although showed improvement through the season which is still a good sign
• He will need to improve his man-coverage technique quite drastically to be a true number-one corner as he lacks the lateral agility and quick-twitch burst to be great in that department; having speed helps tremendously on go-routes but that is only a small facet of the game
• Didn’t have impressive run instincts, nor was he too hard to block
• Sometimes looked stiff and was slow to flip his hips
• Clearly struggles to handle in-breaking routes, especially in off-coverage

Combine

40 yd: 4.26

Shuttle:

10 yd:

3 cone:

Broad Jump:

Vertical: 42

Bench:

Arm length: 33.63

Grading Scale:

Pot=Potential: players’ highest upside

Imp=Impact: player’s immediate impact

Individual trait scale (1-7):

7 – Rare world-class skill; best in the league and no room for improvement   |   6 – Great-elite skill; one of the best at that given trait but still has some room to improve   |   5 – Very good; above average and has potential to be elite   |   4 – Average; able to suffice but, not ideal long-term   |   3 – Below average; able to suffice at college level   |   2 – Poor; hinders overall play and is a liability to the team   |   1 – Awful; not good enough to play given position at any level above D2 | Note: Consistency plays a large factor.

Overall Draft grade scale (15-100):

85+ – Generational talent; immediate all-pro/ potential HOF.   |   83-85 – Bluechip prospect; immediate star with elite upside   |   81-83 – High first-round talent; high-end starter/ elite potential.   |   79-81 – First rounder; Day one starter/ boom or bust (low risk).   |   76-79 – Replacement level starter/ boom or bust (high risk).   |   73-76 – Will become good starter with 2-3 years/ high upside project.   | 70-73 – Eventual average starter.   |   68-70 – Day one backup/ potential starter.   |   64-68 – Depth piece/ Special teamer  |   64-0 – Practice squad/ league min. level; journeymen/ longshots | QBs have +5 draft value compared to average position.